Autopilot is a perfect tool for forecasting many of your less important accounts, such as bank fees, legal or accounting fees, office expenses, telephone etc. None of these expenses alone will make or break your business, but together they will add up to a sizable sum.
Example - Forecasting Legal Fees
In this example, we want to create a persistent forecast for the company's Legal Fees.
1. Click on the Account You Want to Forecast
Start by clicking on the account (=row in the Operating Model) anywhere to open the sidebar to begin using the Autopilot.
2. Select Autopilot as Forecast
This is often pre-selected already.
3. Pick a Forecast Model
Let's stick with the default Average & Grow.
4. Select the Average Length
Given it looks like the Legal fees have been steadily growing over the year, a relatively short time period for the average should be used. This will ensure that the forecast will update itself upwards quickly enough as new data keeps coming in each month.
5. Save and Close
Now you'll have a Legal & Professional account forecasted at $6,302 per month. The forecast is persistent, so when you close the month of July the values for the 3-month average will update and thus update the forecast for Legal & Professional without you having to lift a finger.
